Monday, November 03, 2003

What's Your Nationality?

A certain young man of eight years old I know, who happens to be my son, and later, when he's big and reads this post, will happen to hate my guts, told me the following key insight this morning while watching a favorite cartoon show on Nickelodeon.

"Mom, I love this show because they have guys from every nationality!" he said.

The show didn't seem too long on diversity to me.

"What do you mean every nationality?" I asked him. Maybe I was missing something.

"You know -- BOSSY, MEAN, NICE, STUPID AND SMART," he explained.

I didn't laugh -- that's not fair.

"Honey, actually, I think you mean ... they have characters with every kind of personality, right?" I said.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever," he said, taking it in stride. "My favorite shows have people that are really different and fight all the time."

"Yep," I said.

That's my kid, he's obviously got the key to a successful narrative nailed -- conflict, conflict, conflict.